Students triumph in global business contest

Team celebrate after topping charts in competition designed to test strategic management expertise

A team of business students from Plymouth University are celebrating
after topping the charts in a global competition designed to test their
strategic management expertise.

Chukwuka Onyibe, Qun Shen, Yuxuan Zhong, Huiyu Yang, and Weijie Wu
– all enrolled on the BSc (Hons) Business Management course – were on top of
the world for two consecutive weeks in the international strategy game, Glo-Bus.

An online simulation in strategic management, the game is used by
universities and colleges all around the world, teams have to prepare and
adapt business plans amid fluctuating financial conditions and to meet the
expectations of stakeholders and society.

During a five-week period, almost 3,000 teams from more than 140
different higher education institutions played the game, with a Plymouth team
emerging on top for two consecutive weeks in rankings compiled by its
coordinators.

Lecturer in International Management Learning Dr Stephen Wilkins, who leads the Strategic Management module
within the BSc (Hons) Business Management course, said:

“Glo-Bus is a really
valuable learning experience. Students can put the theory and business
knowledge they’ve learned in lectures into practice, to see how textbook theory
can influence real-world business decisions and performance. These students
have demonstrated that they possess the knowledge and analytical skills to make
winning business decisions, and I would like to think their success
demonstrates the quality of the students we have here and the quality of the education
we provide.”

During the course of the strategic management module, the team of
students played the game twice a week for five weeks, with each decision round
representing one year in the life of the virtual company they had created,
Avalon.

They were given large amounts of information and tools to perform
data analysis so that they could make decisions about things such as product
specifications, selling prices, production output, marketing, financing and
corporate social responsibility.

In each round, the teams had to amend their strategies according
to changes in their company’s external environment – such as changing interest
and exchange rates, and competition from other organisations – with the
objective being to gain a competitive advantage, achieving the financial and
social expectations of shareholders and society in general.

After every decision round, each company’s performance was
translated into a points score based on five criteria, such as return on
equity, stock price and company image rating.

Student Qun Shen said:

“The game is very complex and it
took a lot of time and effort to run our company, but I enjoyed taking part and
I have learnt many tips for running a real business."

Team leader Weijie Wu added:

“We are really pleased to be
recognised as the top Glo-Bus company in the world and we feel that all our
hard work has paid off. The challenges were tough but we worked well as a group
and I feel I have learnt a lot about different ways to offer strong and
effective leadership.”